Los Angeles, CA – Chris Denorfia, Everth Cabrera and Kyle Blanks each smacked a solo home run as the San Diego Padres completed a three- game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 7-2 win on Wednesday.
Chase Headley, who was playing his first game of the season after breaking the tip of his left thumb in spring training, had one hit, one RBI and scored once for the Padres, who had dropped five straight games entering the series.
"We came here and started swinging the bats. It's contagious," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "Kershaw is a really good pitcher, so that was a really good job by our guys."
Brad Brach (1-0) earned the win after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Starter Tyson Ross gave up just one run on six hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Adrian Gonzalez went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Matt Kemp added a sacrifice fly for the Dodgers, losers in five of their last six.
Clayton Kershaw (2-2) surrendered five runs -- three earned -- on seven hits. He struck out five and walked four.
"Clayton wants to throw zeros every time he goes out there," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "They made him work tonight. We need to get some big hits to score some runs and build our confidence."
Gonzalez got the Dodgers on the board with a sacrifice fly in the third inning, but the Padres answered with three runs in the fourth to go up 3-1.
Cabrera smacked a leadoff homer. A pair of walks bookended a Jesus Guzman single to load the bases. Jedd Gyorko followed with a double-play, but it was enough to score Headley. Blanks' RBI single to left capped the inning.
The Padres added one run in each of the next four innings to go up 7-1.
Denorfia led off the fifth with a homer to left and Blanks added a solo shot in the sixth to give the visitors a four-run spread. Mark Kotsay roped an RBI single to center field to score Cabrera in the seventh, and Headley smoked a single up the middle in the eighth inning.
Padres closer Huston Street ran into trouble in the ninth, loading the bases with one out in the ninth. Kemp pushed a run across with a sacrifice fly, but Street was able to strike out pinch-hitter Luis Cruz to end the threat.
Game Notes
Ross threw 99 pitches, but only 56 for strikes ... San Diego first baseman Yonder Alonso had his eight-game hitting streak snapped ... The Dodgers placed pitcher Chris Capuano on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a strained left calf ... The Dodgers went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.
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